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A Gift From the Heart to All of the Bujinkan

Today a most extraordinary thing happened in Hatsumi Sensei's class. As you probably know, the Hombu Dojo we currently have in Japan is slated for demolition. Many of us will miss it very much when a new Bujinkan honbu dojo is built.

But my friend and student William Kelly O'neill did us all a service. He spent the past many weeks painstakingly (emphasis on pain) recreating the Bujinkan Hombu dojo in miniature as a gift for Hatsumi Sensei.

Hatsumi Sensei and Bill O'neill with mini Hombu
What he didn't know was that it was a gift to the entire Bujinkan. Tonight he presented it to Soke Hatsumi.
Hatsumi Sensei checks out mini Hombu
Bill has been sending me pictures and explaining his design process over the last few weeks. The amount of detail, research, and thoughtful personal elements in his project have been very inspiring to hear about. At first I thought he was a bit crazy, but when you see the results...
Hombu Miniature

I know Bill put his whole heart into this project in a genuine spirit of giving. And everyone who was there was touched. Hatsumi Sensei decided tp present Bill with a Bujinkan Gold Medal. Well, this is when Bill was overcome with emotion and gratitude.

Hatsumi Sensei told me he was going to put the miniature in the new Hombu dojo.

Bill keeps appologizing to me for missing classes back home while he was in a race to finish his artwork for this trip to Japan. I told him, don't worry, you have your own dojo to train in. But since he gave his dojo to Hatsumi Sensei, he'd better come back to class!

Thank you Bill for the inspiration. This was a wonderful gift for Soke and all of the Bujinkan.

Comments

  1. Phillip LegareApril 6, 2014 at 3:50 PM

    Mike,

    This is awesome !! Bill sent me a few pics of the model while in progress. Like you I thought it was a bit of a crazy idea. But when I saw how wonderfully he made it, putting his heart and soul into it, I realized what a wonderful gift this will be. As you say the hombu will be demolished at some point in the near future. But hombu will live on through Bill's hard work and sacrifice! We can all enjoy it in the new hombu over the years. Thanks much for posting and for supporting Bill. Good students come from good teachers. Gambatte !! r/Phil Legare

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